Doubling the critical temperature of La(1.9)Sr(0.1)CuO(4) using epitaxial strain

There has been no increase in the critical temperature Tc of bulk cuprates since the discovery that the HgBa(2)Ca(2)Cu(3)O(8+delta) compound has a Tc of 133 K. However, under hydrostatic pressure (15 GPa), Tc rises to about 164 K. One way to stabilize such an increase permanently is to use the epitaxial strain in thin films. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of this approach for the La(1.9)Sr(0.1)CuO(4) compound, doubling its critical temperature to 49 K.